Still on the fence about the value of soy products, even after health claims have been hugely debunked? If there's any lingering doubt in your mind, I urge you to read this interesting piece from Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food Revealed, who describes how soybeans are "milked" and transmogrified into health-harming products nobody needs.

Take, for example, the process by which soybeans are converted into a milk. After presoaking beans in an alkaline solution, the resulting paste is cooked in a pressure cooker, eliminating key nutrients and producing low levels of the toxin, lysinoalanine.

From there, it's a matter of cleaning up the undesirable, beany taste of soy milk, either by presoaking beans beforehand with baking soda or "deodorizing" them using a process similar to refining oil. Sweeteners (raw cane crystals, barley malt or brown rice syrup) and flavorings mask any remaining "beaniness," Dr. Daniel says.

And, remember, non-fermented soy products like tofu, soy milk and meatless foods made from textured vegetable protein also contain phytic acid, one of many anti-nutrients it's wise to avoid at all costs.